PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – In an interview with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Pennsylvania Congressman Ryan Costello denied accusations that he undercut Donald Trump’s negotiations with Democrats by insinuating that the White House proposal to reduce the corporate tax rate to 15 percent is simply the opening offer.

Costello, a Republican representing the 6th District, said he merely answered a reporter’s question about whether reducing the rate from 35 percent to 15 was feasible.

“I said I have difficulty seeing how we could reduce taxes that much but I take it for what it is, which is, the opening negotiation. That’s what the President does. He negotiates. I don’t think that undercuts him at all. I think a lot of what he often proposes, he negotiates. He starts from one position, he sees where everyone else is and then finds where the sweet spot is.”

The Congressman maintains that Republicans will soon be able to come to terms on a successful tax reform plan regardless of the final corporate tax rate.

“The administration has a very strong fiscal or economic growth oriented side to it. They’re smart people. They’re capable. They’re going to come to Congress, they’ve laid out their markers and that’s what they were. These are where we want rates to be and now we’re going to go through the process of, hopefully, simplifying the entire code. You can disagree with the fact that I characterized it as an open negotiation, that’s your opinion. I still think that that’s what it is.”